Recap: The Cripple of Inishmaan, The National Archeology Museum, Causey Farm and more!

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Author Name

Maddie Caples

Author Program

Ireland: Social Sciences

Program Semester and Year

Spring 2019

Student Major

Psychology

Ireland, Dublin

Greetings from Dublin! What an eventful week it has been. After getting back from our weekend trip to the west of Ireland, we have had a jam-packed week. On Monday we had a full day of classes discussing the workplace in Ireland, reading and discussing the play Riders to the Sea, and learning more about the Irish welfare system. On Tuesday we all had a full day at our internship placements and had our first experience at the beautiful Gaiety Theatre that night! We got to see The Cripple of Inishmaan, and while there were mixed reviews of the production itself, I personally had a lovely experience at our first play in Ireland! Wednesday was another busy day attending our internship placements and then attending our Irish Life and Cultures class that evening. Wednesdays are typically our busiest days as many of us have to be at our internships for 6-8 hours that day and then attend a class for three hours in the evening. While it is quite exhausting, many of us really enjoy our professor for our Irish Life and Cultures class which makes it a bit easier to get through a 3 hour class after such a long day.

Thursday brought our first (much needed) break of the week. We have a 4 hour break between our Irish welfare systems class in the morning and our Irish theatre class in the late afternoon. This break is typically spent grabbing lunch or spending time in one of the many coffee shops close to the Dublin Business School buildings. For some (including myself on occasion), this break is used to go back to our apartment to make lunch and then take a quick power nap before our evening activities. Fridays are a late start for us with our first class starting at 11 am! After that class we head to our Irish literature class. This week we discussed Yeats poetry such as “September 1913” and “Easter 1916.” These very famous poems had been briefly mentioned in two of our classes before, so it was especially interesting to be able to finally read and analyse them. After our literature class this week we took a trip to the National Archeology Museum! It was incredibly interesting to be able to see things throughout the early history of Ireland first hand. I especially enjoyed being able to make so many connections between the objects that we saw and the things we have been discussing in our Irish Life and Cultures class.

Our long week ended with a trip to Causey Farm! We got to bake soda bread, learn a ceili dance, see and feed some animals (I SAW MY FIRST REINDEER AND CAMEL), learn to play the bodhran (a traditional Irish drum), and see a frozen bog that some people were brave enough to walk in! We had a lot of fun on the trip and the bread we made was delicious. After this packed week, I think it’s safe to say that we are all enjoying a very restful Sunday before another busy week. Next weekend we get to take a trip to Northern Ireland!